How does it work? 12 Short Stories

Can you write 12 Short Stories in 12 months?

This challenge started in 2017. Since then hundreds of writers have completed the challenge and earned their #braggingrights. You can join this active, kind and vibrant community of writers. They’re also pretty good at short story writing so get ready to learn. 

The goal is to write 12 short stories in 12 consecutive months. You can start in any month.

Overview

You will receive a short story prompt once a month. You have one month to write the story.  Double-check the word count. It is different every month.

You will post one short story and comment on four short stories.  This process is repeated for 12 consecutive months.

If you would like to have classes, coaching and course for short stories please join our membership. 

12 Short Stories

Challenge Yourself.

So, how does it work?

Questions ?

Drop us an email at write@deadlinesforwriters.com

How 12 Short Stories started.

At the end of 2016, I wrote these words:

You are invited to a short story writing challenge…

I have been writing a lot of short stories lately and I have been having so much fun. So, I have decided to make it a year-long project. I am going to write one short story per month. Do you want to join me?

These words changed my life.

At the end of 2016, I was exhausted, overwhelmed, and really frustrated with my own writing. I am a writing a teacher. I have the best job in the world. I get to teach writing, talk about writing, write about writing, talk to other writers about writing; I write a blog about writing, read books about writing… But the infuriating thing about it all was that I wasn’t doing any of my own writing. I hadn’t written a story in ages.

I especially hate Novembers. It’s the month when I look back at my year and realise how dismally I have failed at producing anything in terms of writing. I also call November short story month because there are so many short story writing competitions around that time of year.

So, to overcome my November self-loathing, I write short stories and enter them into as many competitions as I can—usually with mediocre results, because you can imagine how rushed they are.

Anyway, I was repeating my little cycle of despair. I was at my wits end and couldn’t imagine having to face another month—never mind another year—of blogging. Some months the blogs were all I wrote and I wanted to stop; I was tired.

Also, in that year, my esteemed, talented, and wise colleague Anthony Ehlers, had a great idea for his blog posts. He wrote a series of posts called: How to Write your Novel in 52 Weeks. It’s a great series. Go check it out on Writers Write.

Anyone who has ever blogged will know the value of having your blogging content planned out 52 weeks in advance. Anyway, I was horrifically jealous. I wished I could go into 2017 with that kind of plan, but what could I do? I had pretty much exhausted every creative writing topic ever, and I wanted something that would make me excited once again.

I had always loved short stories and there was a Ray Bradbury quote that says, ‘Write a short story every week. It’s not possible to write 52 bad short stories in a row.’. This made me laugh (and think). I realised a story a week might be a tad hectic, but then I remembered a list of New Year’s resolution I once made. In 2014, I nobly promised to write one short story per month for 12 months. I made it to March.

I resurrected the idea a bit and realised I had to make it more public for accountability’s sake. My new goal was to write one short story per month and publish it on Writers Write. Game changer. I put up the post and thought I’d get a few high fives and good lucks; instead, everyone was asking ‘where do we post?’

From there, we moved to the Facebook Group, and posted our stories. In the first month, we had about seventy stories. Facebook was a disaster. Your feed would reshuffle. Comments would be lost.

My technologically-inclined best friend, Blair was listening to me once again rage about Facebook and said, “12shortstories.com is available. You’re buying it.” She built the site, and that was as they say, that. In 2017, thirty writers earned their bragging rights and wrote #12/12 short stories. In 2018, it was eighty-two writers, 19 of those did it for the second time.

10 Awesome Reasons for Writing Short Stories.

Why short stories? Because they’re awesome.

But also, because:

  1. You can hone your craft: A short story is the perfect place to practise and to hone your craft. We all have strengths and weaknesses as writers. Some writers excel at dialogue, but suck at setting and description; or their plots rock, but their characters are flat and predictable. A short story offers us the opportunity to improve our weaknesses and have fun with our strengths.
  2. There is less pressure: When we write novels, we need to keep our wits about us. We need sixty coherent scenes, in the correct order, that show readers the story. There is less pressure with a short story.
  3. Your prompts can be published: Every writer needs to practise, and a daily prompt is great; but when you turn that prompt into a short story you have something to enter, publish, or stick up on the fridge. Prompts tend to remain in our notebooks; short stories become something you can use. Don’t stop with the prompts, though. They help you find ideas.
  4. They give you a break: Writing a novel is as challenging as it is thrilling. There are times when the words flow and the story works, and then there are times when they don’t. That is when you write a short story.
  5. The reduced word count makes you work hard: Novels have space that short stories don’t. If you over-write, this is a great way to shorten and strengthen your writing. When you must count and evaluate each word, it changes the way you write.
  6. They give you deadlines: There are hundreds—if not thousands—of short story competitions. Use them to work towards your goals and deadlines.
  7. They are good for setting short-term goals: Writing novels can take months or even years. Short stories offer an opportunity to set short-term goals to keep us motivated and invigorated for the long-term goal achievement.
  8. You can deal with backstory: Writing short stories is a great way of getting to know your characters. Put them into a situation that you haven’t thought of before or that isn’t included in your book, and see what they get up to. Or write that important event in their childhood that shaped them and changed their lives. You won’t necessarily use it, but it’s a great way to layer and explore character.
  9. You can experiment: This is my favourite part about writing short stories. If you always write in third person, try first or even second person. If you have never written fantasy, give it a go. If a scene from your novel isn’t working, change characters and write it as a short story from another character’s point of view.
  10. They allow you to brainstorm: Use a short story to explore a theme or an alternative ending to your scene or story. Change viewpoint, gender, or genre. There are no rules. The short story is a brilliant tool. Use it.
The Challenge is always open, but the Membership is currently closed and will be open for new members in Jun/Jul 2024.

The 12 Short Stories Challenge is free and always open to new members, but if you would like to write even better short stories you can join the monthly membership